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You are here > Member's Area > MPs back call for level playing field for Air BnB properties

MPs back call for level playing field for Air BnB properties

3rd August 2018

Categories: Member News

The Bed and Breakfast Association are celebrating today after MPs backed their calls for a level playing field for all tourism businesses meaning that Air BnB properties and similar B&Bs should all be treated the same way.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tourism chaired by Gordon Marsden MP met this week to discuss the issues that had been previously raised by the Bed and Breakfast Association and representatives of hotel groups.

MPs have now called for all properties to ensure that hosts have, as a minimum, undertaken a fire safety assessment, a health and safety assessment and, where relevant, have Gas Safe certification. Accommodation providers should not be allowed to register properties without proof of these assessments.”

This would mean that properties listed on Air BnB would now be subjected to the same regulations as B&Bs, guesthouses and other holiday accommodation. It would level the playing field and would reduce illegal competition, as well as protecting the public by bringing the safety checks on Air BnB type premises up to closer to the level of those already exhibited by other properties.

The MPs report says: “All visitors are entitled to a minimum level of safety, regardless of the type of accommodation they use and method by which it is booked. It is responsibility of all agents, regardless of whether they are sharing economy platforms or traditional booking agencies, to ensure that the products they supply meet these minimum standards. We have found that the systems in place for informing hosts of their legal responsibilities are inadequate, to the extent that some even allow hosts to register properties if they confirm that they have no fire safety equipment installed.”

They also emphasised the importance of delivering a level playing field for all tourism businesses and spoke of their concerns that hosts providing accommodation via sharing economy platforms do not comply with health and safety regulations. It was proposed that most sharing economy platforms, like Air BnB, do not reveal the address of a property until a booking is made, this along with data protection claims mean that few if any properties have ever been inspected.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tourism recommends that the Culture Secretary launches a consultation to establish a low-cost statutory registration scheme for tourism accommodation business. Such a scheme could be devolved to councils and would help resolve the main issues.

The Bed & Breakfast Association welcomes the report and has called on the government to take action on areas highlighted in the report. Representatives from the association have said they are ready to play a constructive and positive role in consultation with the government about such a scheme. In their report on the news they said: “We do hope that today’s report will start a process which will move towards a more level playing field and protect businesses from unfair competition. The report is right to say that the same rules should apply and be enforced in the same way, to a home with two bedrooms on Air BnB, as they are to an identical two-bedroom B&B next door. That’s only fair and common sense.”